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Zombies, Brains and Automobiles (work in progress)

Author:	pixeldriver119	Submitted:	1st March, 2011	Favourites:	1
Genre:	Drive 'Em Up	Downloads:	186
Rated:

Edited By pixeldriver119 on 3/23/2011

Zombies have taken over, you are the last ice-cream van and all the brains have been eaten accept yours.

Features

- kill combos
- custom handling engine
- 2 Maps, 1 night level, 2 day levels
- fire attack combo breaker
- destroyable objects
- zombie crowding mechanic
- lots of blood

update (23/03/2011)

- Road Works level day finished
- cone impacts sorted
- objects can now land on each other like bits of portaloo can land on top of trees, toilets can land on roadworks and destroys them now.

UPDATE (22/03/2011)

- Road works level is in progress
- added it to the map select screen
- added road works on new level
- added "death from above" for when you get bits of portaloo ontop of a zombie
- added steam roller to level/works same as the trees
- zombies no longer overlap brain cone
- when the escape button is pressed and the menu goes back to the top the level restarts which is a temp fix for the issue i'd been having
- road works can be jumped over but only if your still high enough up
- done the same with portaloos but made it so you have to be even higher
- added traffic cones
-light beam not stays in position even if your sliding
-made top speed from 60 to 65 now
-added crosses on top of controls and checkpoint as these can't be selected yet

"SERVING TWO SCOOPS OF MAYHEM AND A FLAKE!"

Review This Download

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22197067/zombies%2Cbrains%20and%20automobiles%20v2.1.exe (7.41mb )

Posted by pixeldriver119

1st March, 2011

will be good to see your comments guys, if you download please leave me a comment even if it's a small one. Cheers

Posted by Dean James Reynolds

1st March, 2011

Rated :

Sweet, I have years experience with this and am always continuously looking so.. If you need any help (adding multiplayer online, local, syncing zombies online) or even anything just ask me, I'd be glad to help.

Downloading, can't wait to play

Posted by Dean James Reynolds

1st March, 2011

Rated :

Ok I had a play with it, it was quite fun but the fun didn't last long. There is always room for improvement thought, Like I said: I'll help you with anything. If you want to speak via msn then: d_crew@live.co.uk

Posted by pixeldriver119

2nd March, 2011

Thanks for giving me some comments, i haven't any plans for making an online game if i'm honest. Can you go into what you liked and what you didn't like?

Would love some pointers, cheers.

Posted by Dean James Reynolds

2nd March, 2011

Rated :

Well, To put it simple.. this is just basically driving around in a circle. Alot could and should be added. Features like getting in and out of vehicles, have a gun. day and night and zombies only come out at night. possibly upgrades but not a necessary feature. Maybe random helicopters that come in the day and drop down supply survival crates that contain: health packs, armour packs, weapon packs & special packs (grenades, food). and maybe make it so your in a big town filled with dead bodies everywhere, food that you eat (either from crates, shops or dead people or even what you find) could occumble your person which is only temporary (but the more you eat, the more it affects) the good side is that it heals you, that bad side is while affected.. move slower/walk slower/run slower.

Make it so your walking, But when you hold shift you can run/sprint (occumble effect still effects speed) which would give zombies a good chance to catch you. Make it so you can hijack vehicles (cars).

Make it so armour also has an occumble effect which also affects the speed of your character, if you add upgrade-able stats then make it so you can upgrade the anti-occumble stat.

Theres plenty more ideas but I'll let you dig into those first.

Posted by pixeldriver119

2nd March, 2011

I know what you mean mate, i do have to say i think were on a different wave length to each other regarding this game, Heres my inspiration to give you an idea of what i used as my inspiration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon

I'm not looking at recreating something like dead rising or resident evil, first and foremost its an arcade racing game. The mode i have implemented so far is Slaughter were you get as higher score as possible in the time limit, the fire thing that happens at combo 20 is now something you control instead.

Posted by pixeldriver119

2nd March, 2011

in regards to making it a better car game what do you suggest?

Did you like the handling?
zombie crowding?

Posted by s-m-r

2nd March, 2011

Had a chance to see your engine test, and I'm excited about the potential here. A few observations:

--It's like "Ivan Ironman Stewart's Off-Road Challenge" meets Left 4 Dead...Lots of fun.

--HANDLING: the "drift splat" detector (or whatever process you use to determine the bonus) seems a bit too sensitive. You can be going very very slow, or barely turning, and receive the bonus.

--HANDLING: I'd recommend moving the rotation spot of the vehicle closer to where the player would expect the axle of the front wheels to be on the van. Right now, it seems centered on the ice cream cone on the vehicle's roof; vehicles don't turn from that point - they turn at the front axle. Change this and see how it affects the handling, tweaking as you go, for a more realistic (but still arcade-responsive) ride.

--HANDLING: is it a conscious choice to allow the player to drive through the trees? I think the game would be more challenging and intense if there was more of a reason to avoid obstacles...If they had to back up, risking rolling into a massive mob of zombies, they may want to drive a little more accurately. Maybe even cause more damage when hitting different obstacles (trees vs. garbage cans vs. brick walls, etc.)

--HANDLING: Make sure the player can turn only when their vehicle is actually moving.

--ZOMBIES: they can be barely tapped but still explode. The limbs flying away is a nice effect.

--ZOMBIES: You need more of them (very small non-threatening mobs at this point), and they ought to move faster than they do now. Either that, or make the player move slower (which I don't think you want to do). The zombies seem to be not even the smallest inconvenience. perhaps this needs to be coded more, and you're focusing more on the car handling, but I recommend you keep this in mind for later on when balancing the "zombie factor."

--ZOMBIES: Aesthetics...The occasional "hand-on-screen-with-ice-cream-cone" needs a little brushing up. It doesn't fit well with the rest of the game, and disappears too quickly to even notice. Maybe add a wiper-blade animation as the driver cleans off the windshield...?

Keep up the great work! Looking forward to seeing more racing, checkpoints, and zombie-splatting.

Posted by s-m-r

2nd March, 2011

Oh, and I didn't have the font you used for your text objects, so my computer's default font was used. Perhaps make your labels Active objects or counters that follow the screen so that you can be sure each player will see the same font.

Posted by pixeldriver119

2nd March, 2011

Drift Splat indicator - i will make it so you have to be doing more then 20

I will have a look at moving the rotation point tonight and see how it looks

No i set a collision for if you hit the tree stump, the car usually stops and it starts flashing which means the zombies speed up and surround you when you crash.

When you hit a tree/portaloo or even a bench you get damaged at different rates although you may not have noticed when you tried it.

I thought i'd fixed the player rotation when moving but i will have another look at it.

The zombies dying at any speed is something i attempted to fix but decided it will not be changing.

I have been adding more and more each version however i agree after the first ammount zombies get a little low on the ground, the only thing is, is i don't want to go above 350 active objects on playing field at once as it starts slowing the game.

I will get some more spawn points sorted though, maybe some timed zombie spawns aswell.

What do you mean by brushing up? The game started with the hand so will be keeping that, the idea is thats because a zombie has got into your van to eat your ice-creams, also the hand pops up when a zombie is near your van for too long, when the overlay is on the screen it's damaging you hence you have to accelerate to make the overlay dissapear chucking him out of your van.

I will slow it down and see what happens though. I am thinking of a checkpoint mode were when you hit zombies you get time instead of points, maybe racing at some point.

i persummed the font would work on any comp, i will make them active objects then yeh. What did you think to the main menu song with the ice-cream van jingle at the beginning?

Posted by s-m-r

2nd March, 2011

Background music: Oh, I played the game without sound (I'm at the office). I will try again later today and let you know what I think.

Regarding the hand graphics: since everything else is pixel art, seeing one photo-realistic hand with a tacked-on pixel ice cream cone seems inconsistent. If you're dead-set (no pun intended) on using the zombie arm, I'm not sure how you might solve this. Again, it's an aesthetics issue, not necessarily something to do with the gameplay.

However, it was unclear to me that I was continuing to take damage while the hand was on-screen. I;d recommend some sort of visual clue not just that there's a zombie there, but that the player is actually taking damage. Maybe you want to flash or colourize the damage meter while you're taking damage so the player knows they are in danger?

Another thing I noticed:

ZOMBIES: when first appearing on the edges of the screen, zombies sometimes rotate in circles and/or "slide" to different positions. After that, they move normally. This occurs perhaps 40% of the time. It was much more noticeable when there were fewer zombies on the screen and I was on the lookout for more.

I will pay more attention to the music in future play-throughs, as well as damage when impacting objects.

I like the checkpoint idea with the races...! Here's a question though...What is the player racing TO? Is there a specific end objective you're seeking, or is this more of a "grab-the-points" kind of game?

Posted by pixeldriver119

2nd March, 2011

haha i'd get shot for doing that at my work, oki yeah maybe if i just do an outline of the hand then pixelate it after that.

yeah will make the damage counter flash then, i thought the hand been on the screen was a big enough visual que.

I'm going to look into the windscreen wiper thing tonight and do it so you have a button to wipe the screen which takes away 10 points maybe.

Yeah i know it's wierd that, i think it's because two spawn too close and keep bouncing off eachother. It's more of a score chasing game yes although if all goes well i'm gunna have a couple of play fields each with a night and day option.

cheers for all the comments so far this is just what i needed

Posted by Dean James Reynolds

2nd March, 2011

Rated :

You can get upto 1000 active objects on a screen without lag, by using your computers specs. Click on the application (above the frame) in the side-bar, Then goto the display (I think, or runtime) options and tick 'Machine Independant Speed' some computers can't support it but I have found out only real real old computers that aint got graphical updates and things it would lag (but that's rare these days).

I see your point, But my ideas still conclude it to be a 'Drive Em Up' game, so I would if I we're you try at those suggestions. I mean, you don't have to and I'm not saying that it's going to make everyone love the game.. But I would really like to see some of the suggestions that I suggested (like the food, oncumble effect slows down you, hunger bar, health bar) ect.

Thanks, oh and.. love those suggestions s-m-r!

Posted by pixeldriver119

2nd March, 2011

If i wasn't making an arcade racing game similar to carmegeddon then i maybe would however your idea of night time for the zombies was cool and going to do night time levels now.
Comment edited by pixeldriver119 on 3/2/2011

Posted by Dean James Reynolds

3rd March, 2011

Rated :

You said in the update log of 1.6 that you fixed the tree collisions, they worked perfectly fine for me before. Why remove the floating paper? that gave it a nice ghost-town effect

Posted by pixeldriver119

3rd March, 2011

well i might replace it with rolling cans or something, our lass said they didn't look anything like paper so thats why i removed them.

It wasn't often that the tree collisions failed but it did happen on occasion because the sensor you hit to crash wasn't large enough so it just makes it fool proof now.

What you think to the menu music?
Comment edited by pixeldriver119 on 3/3/2011

Posted by Dean James Reynolds

3rd March, 2011

Rated :

I love the menu music, fits perfectly.

Hey could I offer to help work on this project since I have massive ammounts of experience, I ask for nothing in return I just wish to help programme it

Posted by pixeldriver119

3rd March, 2011

yeah you can by all means however has we have completely different ideas for the game do you not think we will clash? If you want me to just tel u what things to sort i can do that. Let me know

Posted by Dean James Reynolds

3rd March, 2011

Rated :

Ok tell me what things to make for you, also add my msn: d_crew@live.co.uk

msn will be the easy way to stay in contact and transfer my work to you.

Posted by pixeldriver119

4th March, 2011

Yeah cool, if i have any issues then i'll run them past you mate

Posted by pixeldriver119

15th March, 2011

People seem to have lost interest here so won't be updating now unless i get some comments. The game is still been developed though for those who are interested.

Posted by Dean James Reynolds

19th March, 2011

Rated :

I aint lost interest, I check this site like.. atleast every 5 hours (at most every hour) to see if I got a PM message from you asking for help

Posted by s-m-r

21st March, 2011

EDIT: Things are looking strong, man! The entire game has a much more arcade-y feel to it. The zombies squish satisfactorily...and I think the flying headless corpses are also a new touch, eh?

The wiper blade is adorable.

I see you updated the HUD labels to be objects or backgrounds, which was a great choice, as now any player will see the font you originally chose.

Night mode was the only mode I had seen the zombie arm appear...is this by design? It may be that I simply didn't trigger its appearance at daytime.

One last suggestion with the current build: maybe draw attention to the timer when it approaches 10 or less. Maybe a flashing border appears around it or something?

In any case, looking toward seeing Checkpoint mode. Keep up the excellent work!

Comment edited by s-m-r on 3/21/2011

Posted by pixeldriver119

22nd March, 2011

Ah cool just knowone commented for ages, the zombie arm only appears if a zombie gets into your van which is more likely on the night level.

i maybe have a look at changing the counter closer to 0, i originally had it so the font got bigger the closer to 0 the timer got but it didn't look right at all. Added new download, i'm now on V2 so alot of new stuff to see.

Posted by s-m-r

26th March, 2011

Had some fun with the Road Work level...The jump is a nice touch.

It's a little strange if you approach it from the side, and instant kills (as in, the player receives 100% damage) is quite frequent. This happens most of the time if the player collides with the steamroller.

I've also noticed that if a player is stuck after hitting a tree, the respawn sometimes places them on top of the tree again, which causes damage and requires another respawn.

The explosions resulting from colliding with porta-loos and park benches is very fun to watch. Zombies being smacked by flying debris is always satisfying...

Anything in particular you're seeking from a tester? I can perform a much more focused effort if you need attention on something in particular.

...And please update your project page with the latest builds! There's a much better chance people will be looking at your new builds if you post it there instead of this download page.

Posted by pixeldriver119

29th March, 2011

oh i will have to try that ramp thing. the idea is that you will get respawned if you hit the side of the ramp as its ment to be a wall effect.

Glad you like the jump and hope you noticed that dependent on how high you are depends on were you will hit while your in the air.

I hope you saw the "death from above award" as love how cool that looks.

I think your doing an amazing job of testing it right now so just keep on with what your doing and yeah i will get it all updated.

There just doesn't seem that much activity round here.

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pixeldriver119

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